Friday, February 1, 2008

In Korea the word chigae (jigae) means stew. There are many kinds of chigae depending on the type of ingredients used. I believe the Koreans are masters of soups. They have a different word for soup (guk or kuk) which has more liquid than solid ingredients. If there's more stuff in it it is chigae. I really love kimchee chigae myself. It is best made with nicely sour well fermented kimchee. I made some kimchee almost three months ago and I have quite a bit left that is tasting very nice. Perfect for this warming stew on a cold day. Traditionally it is made with kimchee, tofu and either pork or beef. I left out the meat but flavored this with some beef dashi powder. I wanted more substance so I also added cut up daikon radish. I don't know if that is traditional or not but I like it. The stew is quite simple to make. I simply took a big pot with some sesame oil and fried some green onion and a couple cups of chopped up well fermented kimchee. To that I added a couple of cups of cut daikon, about a quart of water, a good dollop of gojuchang sauce and some beef dashi powder. This was simmered for about 20 minutes until all the flavors were integrated together. Near the end I added some cubed firm tofu and simmered it for a few minutes more. It was spicy and delicious! Makes for great leftovers too.